Is Indiana OC Mike Shanahan related to ex-Broncos coach, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan
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Indiana football’s rise from perennial doormat to national championship game is one of the most unlikely turnaround stories in college football history.
What was the losingest program in FBS history as recently as three months ago has quickly transformed into a juggernaut, going 25-2 in two seasons under coach Curt Cignetti.
This season, the Hoosiers are the lone remaining undefeated team in the FBS, a distinction they kept after a shellacking of Alabama in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 and a beat down of Oregon in the Peach Bowl in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff on Jan. 9. The championship game is a once unimaginable destination for a program that went 113-204 in the 27 seasons before Cignetti was hired.
Among the many factors that have led to Indiana’s No. 1 ranking this season has been a dynamic offense that’s averaging 41.6 points per game, the third-best mark in the FBS, and features quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the first Heisman Trophy winner in Indiana history.
The man orchestrating that unit is impressive in his own right.
Mike Shanahan has been working alongside Cignetti as an assistant coach for a decade, going all the way back to their days at Indiana — Indiana University of Pennsylvania, that is, a Division II school in Indiana, Pennsylvania. Now, he’s in his second season as the Hoosiers’ offensive coordinator, calling plays for a potent outfit that has Indiana on the verge of history.
Here’s a closer look at Shanahan:
Who is Mike Shanahan?
Shanahan is in his second season as Indiana’s offensive coordinator, having followed Cignetti over from James Madison, where he served in the same role.
Shanahan has coached alongside Cignetti since 2016 at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where the former began as a wide receivers coach. From there, he followed Cignetti to Elon for two seasons and then James Madison. Ahead of the 2021 season, he added offensive coordinator duties to his responsibilities and in each of his final two seasons there, the Dukes had one of the top 25 scoring offenses in the FBS, despite having just made the jump up from the FCS level.
In addition to his work as offensive coordinator, Shanahan is also the Hoosiers’ wide receivers coach.
Like Cignetti, Shanahan is a Western Pennsylvania native. He was born and raised in North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, and was a standout wide receiver at Pittsburgh. As a senior in 2012, he had 62 catches for 983 yards and six touchdowns and was a second-team all-Big East selection. He coached for two years at Pitt, as a volunteer assistant and graduate assistant, before joining Cignetti at JMU.
Here’s a stop-by-stop look at Shanahan’s coaching career:
- 2014: Pitt, volunteer assistant
- 2015: Pitt, graduate assistant
- 2016: Indiana University of Pennsylvania, wide receivers coach
- 2017-18: Elon, wide receivers coach
- 2019-20: James Madison, wide receivers coach/recruiting coordinator
- 2021-23: James Madison, offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach/recruiting coordinator
- 2024-present: Indiana, offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach
Is Indiana’s Mike Shanahan related to former NFL coach Mike Shanahan, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan?
Alas, despite the identical names, Indiana’s offensive coordinator is not related to the decorated former NFL head coach.
Shanahan, a two-time Super Bowl champion as the head coach of the Denver Broncos, does have a son who’s a prominent coach, though it’s Kyle Shanahan, who’s in his ninth season as the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.
Interestingly enough, Shanahan — the Indiana offensive coordinator — has a father named Michael and comes from an impressive athletic family of his own. His dad played basketball at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and he had three uncles who also played college basketball — Brian Shanahan (at Duquesne), Robert Shanahan (Pitt-Johnstown) and Jerry Shanahan (IUP).
Mike Shanahan age
Born on Dec. 28, 1989, Shanahan just turned 36 years old.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Is Indiana offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan related to former NFL coach?
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